Minnesota 31,
Auburn 24

January 1, 2020 - Raymond James Stadium - Tampa, FL


NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- MINNESOTA (16) 10 14 0 7 31 AUBURN (9) 10 7 7 0 24 FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QTR: AUB - FG, ANDERS CARLSON 24 YD, 12:17 MINN - FG, MICHAEL LANTZ 40 YD, 6:36 AUB - TD, NOAH IGBINOGHENE 96 YD KICKOFF RETURN, 6:23 MINN - TD, MOHAMED IBRAHIM 16 YD RUN (MICHAEL LANTZ KICK), 4:05 2ND QTR: MINN - TD, BRYCE WITHAM 1 YD PASS FROM SETH GREEN (MICHAEL LANTZ KICK), 7:09 AUB - TD, SAL CANNELLA 37 YD PASS FROM BO NIX (ANDERS CARLSON KICK), 4:15 MINN - TD, TYLER JOHNSON 2 YD PASS FROM TANNER MORGAN (MICHAEL LANTZ KICK), :32 3RD QTR: AUB - TD, JATARVIOUS WHITLOW 3 YD RUN (ANDERS CARLSON KICK), 5:04 4TH QTR: MINN - TD, TYLER JOHNSON 73 YD PASS FROM TANNER MORGAN (MICHAEL LANTZ KICK), 10:26


Extended Box

NCAAF 1 2 3 4 F - - - - -- Minnesota 10 14 0 7 31 Auburn 10 7 7 0 24 FINAL

Auburn-FG Carlson 24 Minnesota-FG Lantz 40 Auburn-Igbinoghene 96 kickoff return (Carlson kick) Minnesota-Ibrahim 16 run (Lantz kick) Minnesota-Witham 1 pass from S Green (Lantz kick) Auburn-Cannella 37 pass from Nix (Carlson kick) Minnesota-T Johnson 2 pass from Morgan (Lantz kick) Auburn-Whitlow 3 run (Carlson kick) Minnesota-T Johnson 73 pass from Morgan (Lantz kick)

Minnesota Auburn First downs 23 13 Rushed-yards 45-215 26-56 Passing yards 279 176 Sacked-yards lost 0-0 2-14 Return yards 1 4 Passes 20-30-1 17-27-0 Punts 4-40.8 5-43.0 Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-yards 5-41 3-20 Time of possession 37:35 22:25

Individual Statistics RUSHING: Minnesota-Ibrahim 20-140, R Smith 16-69, S Green 3-7, Morgan 3-2. Auburn-Whitlow 9-24, D.J. William 5-13, Nix 6-12, Shivers 3-9, Nigh 1-2, K Martin 1-1, Joiner 1-(-5).

PASSING: Minnesota-Morgan 19-29-1-278, S Green 1-1-0-1. Auburn-Nix 17-26-0-176, Siposs 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: Minnesota-T Johnson 12-204, Bateman 3-49, Witham 2-12, R Smith 1-8, Autman-Bell 1-7, Spann-Ford 1-(-1). Auburn-Schwartz 6-49, Cannella 1-37, S Williams 4-29, Nigh 1-24, Hastings 2-14, Wilson 2-12, Stove 1-11.

Att: 45,652


Game Story

TAMPA, Fla. -- With the clock winding down on a dominating performance in the Outback Bowl, Minnesota fans broke into a chant of "Row the boat, row the boat, row the boat." The never-give-up mantra coach P.J. Fleck used to help change the culture of Golden Gophers football continues to inspire a program determined to recapture its glory days. "We challenged every one of our players: You want to be a blue blood, you've got to beat the blue bloods," Fleck said Wednesday after No. 16 Minnesota beat No. 9 Auburn 31-24 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score. "We used to be a blue blood back in the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s," Fleck added. "We've talked about the word of the year is 'restore.' We want to restore that tradition." Tyler Johnson had 12 receptions for 204 yards and two touchdowns to become the Gophers' career receiving leader, and Minnesota outrushed the Tigers 215 yards to 56 while dominating time of possession to limit Auburn's ability to keep pace. "We didn't overlook them. I think our guys were ready to play. I think our guys played hard. But they made the plays; we didn't," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "The second half, it was really a dogfight. Back and forth," Malzahn added. "The bottom line is they made plays. They made the plays to win the game when the game was on the line." Johnson broke Eric Decker's school record for receiving yards on his second catch of the day and became Minnesota's all-time leader for scoring receptions on a one-handed, 2-yard TD catch that put the Gophers (11-2) up 24-17 at halftime. The senior's 73-yard catch-and-run put his team ahead for good early in the fourth quarter. "Coach Fleck says all the time that this program is going up; and as you see today, it's definitely going in the right direction," Johnson said. "Just having the right guys in the locker room is very important and everyone buying in." Minnesota, which began the season with nine straight victories before losing two of its last three to Big Ten rivals Iowa and Wisconsin, finished with more than 10 wins for the first time since 1904. Auburn (9-4) concluded a season in which all four of its losses came against opponents ranked in the Top 25. "I feel like we could've played harder and better than what we did. It's just disappointing, especially going out like that in your last game," Auburn senior defensive end Marlon Davidson said. "Even though we had a chance to win, we weren't on our A game. I'm just disappointed." Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan completed 19 of 29 passes for 278 yards, one interception and both of the TDs to Johnson, who finished with 3,305 receiving yards and 33 TD catches in his career. Gophers receiver Seth Green tossed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Witham on fourth- and-inches midway through the second quarter. Noah Igbinoghene, whose mother and father were Olympic track and field athletes in Nigeria, returned a kickoff 96 yards for Auburn's first touchdown. Bo Nix threw a 37-yard TD pass to Sal Cannella and JaTarvious Whitlow scored 3-yard run that made it 24-24 heading into the fourth quarter. Morgan broke the tie with his second TD throw to Johnson, who posted the 16th 100-yard game of his career and caught at least one TD pass for the seventh straight game, tying a another school record. The Gophers dominated on the ground too, with Mohamed Ibrahim running for 140 yards on 20 carries. "It's huge for our program," Morgan said. "Coach said it last night: That's what he's going to think about when he thinks about the senior class -- guys who did a bunch of things that were never accomplished here. Things that didn't happen since 1904, since Teddy Roosevelt was president."